Chapter 48: Stabbed by a Blade

By the time she climbed down the tree, the Referee Teacher was already urging her on.

Ye Lu was in the body of the novel’s female protagonist, so she was soft and weak.

After running a few steps, she began to pant.

In the center of the cleared path, gossip from bystanders reached her ears.

Especially a casual remark from a male student leaning on the railing made her tremble as she pulled at the corners of her mouth.

“Isn’t this the Prince’s Concubine?”

‘It’s the Main Wife!’

‘No…’

‘…’

Under the pressure of being gossiped about the whole way, when she stood on the high platform, the air around her was cold.

Especially the constant chattering about her from below, which made her expectations for today drop to rock bottom.

She drifted miserably toward her opponent.

He was a rather strange man, clad in a white robe, holding a thin sword, with a cold expression as if someone owed him a debt.

However, after they locked eyes for a few seconds, the other person opened his mouth wide.

“Ye Lu?! It’s you?!”

That’s right—the opponent was the Young Master, the one the Referee Teacher outside called Molis.

So his name was Molis?

‘Huh?’

‘Young Master!’

‘Why is the Young Master here?!’

Snapping back to reality, Ye Lu was so shocked she almost went into fight-or-flight mode.

It took a while to recover.

It was just quite surprising.

She didn’t actually bear any resentment toward this man, nor did she have any desire for revenge.

Losing was just a matter of her own strength; she never once thought of revenge.

‘This… she hadn’t expected it to be so soon.’

‘The opportunity just came to her?’

‘Wuwu… but the thing is, she didn’t want it!’

‘She was going to be tormented again?’

Looking again, the Young Master had become stronger.

Without guessing, she knew that after turning eighteen, and being a man, he had gained the benefits of the Succubus Gene.

Standing opposite her like that, even though he hadn’t made a single move, she could clearly feel the powerful aura around him.

That feeling was suffocating, completely on a different level from before.

‘It seemed… close to C rank?’

On her side… in the dozen or so days since transforming, she hadn’t done anything to improve her strength.

She even had severe malnutrition.

If it came to bare-handed fighting, she could probably drag over a ten-year-old Succubus boy, and he could overpower her with one hand.

‘How could she win like this?’

Realizing this, she cursed under her breath and took a step back.

This step naturally didn’t escape his eagle-like eyes.

He remained calm and composed, but… there was a hint of pity in his gaze.

The Young Master sighed.

This sigh seemed to be for Ye Lu.

He said softly, “Hate your fate for not winning back then.”

“Perhaps this is heaven’s arrangement.”

“But… facing a fragile girl, I’m sorry, but I cannot see you as an opponent.”

“I advise you to surrender.”

‘?’

Her burden was fluctuating with emotion.

‘Hate… hate fate? Where did that chuunibyou speech come from?’

She was furious and wanted to rush up and teach him a lesson, but then suddenly remembered she probably couldn’t beat him.

She became docile, and her anger vanished without a trace.

Then she thought again: these words… weren’t they sarcasm?

Was he giving her a way out?

‘Right… it must be that, right?’

She chewed over words and sentences, organizing the language in her mind for a long time.

She looked up at the impatient-looking Referee Teacher outside the arena, put on a determined expression, and sneered with a strained voice.

“Heh heh heh, I suppose this is the excuse you came up with to avoid me?”

Young Master confused: “What?”

“In that case, I’ll indulge you. It’s just a meaningless match. What if I win? What if I lose? The result will only be unpleasant for both sides, leaving us battered and bruised.”

“I don’t want to be a person who goes along with the crowd.”

“Since you want to win, I’ll let you win.”

After saying coldly, she looked at the referee, raised her right hand, and showed a helpless expression on her face.

“I surrender. This time, let him win.”

As the words fell, even she couldn’t hold it together.

She didn’t dare breathe, sweating nervously.

The referee didn’t speak.

He put down the arm holding the notebook and actually scrutinized her carefully.

Ye Lu smiled at him, baring her teeth, with a determined expression.

The air became quiet.

“As expected of the Prince’s Concubine, her magnanimity is truly impressive!”

‘That bastard again! Shut up!’

Ye Lu gritted her teeth and glared at him.

For a long while, the referee remained expressionless.

Her determined expression was about to falter, her tail swishing nervously behind her.

Luckily… finally there was movement.

“So, you want to forfeit, right?” he suddenly said.

“No!”

Panicked, she explained weakly: “This… this is a battle about a man’s dignity. So I don’t want to hurt his dignity. I really can’t fight…”

She buried her head, her voice gradually fading.

Even she thought it sounded absurd.

“Not bad. As a warrior of the Demon race, even though this isn’t on the battlefield, I must commend your commendable conviction.”

‘Huh?’

“But before you surrender, let me mention: although I can understand your magnanimity, if this reaches the Principal’s ears, it’s uncertain. Most likely it will be seen as cowardice unbecoming of the Demon race. If you truly run away, physical punishment is the least of it; you might even be expelled.”

“So, I suggest you fight.”

“Even if you treat him like an ant.”

“No other choice?”

“Mm.”

“Then, then… then I’ll fight…”

She wanted to find an excuse, but really couldn’t think of any.

On the other side, when she saw the Young Master’s expression, she couldn’t help but shiver.

The pity in his eyes had doubled—what was going on?

“Begin.”

As the referee spoke, Ye Lu didn’t even have time to be dazed.

The Young Master, who had been standing still just a moment ago, smoothly drew the thin sword from his waist, took a stance, and rushed toward her.

“Wait! I’m not ready…”

“Ugh…! That hurts~”

It was so short, she didn’t even have time to get the words out.

His movements were extremely fast.

Ye Lu didn’t even have time to put the bag off her shoulder onto the ground.

She just saw a flash in front of her eyes.

The next second, her chest was pierced.

Before her vision could focus, the first thing that reached her body was excruciating pain, unprecedented pain.

After launching this attack, the Young Master felt it was enough, so he pulled out the sword without any tenderness and stepped back half a step.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

‘Who would believe that… “I’m sorry”? Ye Lu wanted to curse.

She covered the convulsing wound, letting her body fall to the ground.

She wanted to call for help, but her throat felt blocked, and she lost the strength to speak.

She felt the warm blood flowing through her fingers, unable to stop it.

Unsurprisingly, she cried from the pain.

So embarrassing, extremely embarrassing.

She buried her face and sobbed quietly.

‘Where’s the backstage?’

‘Where’s the backstage?’

‘Hasn’t she already become the Lady Princess?’

‘Why does she have to go through such boring things? Within her own duties, shouldn’t she be like the female protagonist of an otome game, playing a fun love tug-of-war with the Prince, trying every way to get his saliva, and then obediently having his children?’

‘Although… this isn’t her main story, but this body seems unexpectedly afraid of pain. She doesn’t want to fight! The method to improve strength for this body is to endure blows, right!’

While she was burying her head doubting life, the crowd below started arguing again, as if debating something.

Ye Lu was losing blood, her whole body weak, but she couldn’t suppress the curiosity hidden in her bloodline.

She turned her head to look, but upon looking, her dull pupils shrank to pinpricks.

“This is an S-rank Mana Crystal!”